Weather Journal: Early Spring Shower

Signs of the Season: Construction workers make repairs to Bryant Park on Monday, preparing for warmer weather ahead.

Temperatures may touch 60 degrees on Tuesday as a preview of spring — complete with rainstorm — moves through the tri-state region.

Rains should fall steadily throughout the day on Tuesday as a frontal system approaches from the Midwest. Warm air drawn northward from the tropics will guarantee a zero chance of snow.

The rains should be mostly showery and the winds relatively calm, but the bad weather could linger for more than 24 hours. That means most places will receive more than an inch of rain — a perfect recipe for some additional spring blooms to emerge by the weekend.

The rains will mark a transition of sorts from winter to spring: average high temperatures for the second week of March are historically above 50 degrees for afternoon highs and 33 degrees for the morning low. That makes any additional snowfall very unlikely from now until next winter.

A more or less unsettled pattern will keep clouds in the skies through Wednesday night at least. Beyond that, things should clear out a bit.

A Warm Winter:The numbers are in, and New York, Connecticut and New Jersey have officially recorded their 16th-, 14th- and 11th-warmest winters, respectively, since 1880. This comes after a relatively cool late-January to March span that saw repeated snows and subfreezing temperatures across most of the tri-state — something the region hasn’t seen much of over the last two years or so.

The outlook for the next several months was also released on Monday via the National Multi-Model Ensemble long-range forecast, which reflects a general consensus of a slightly warm to very warm summer ahead for Greater New York.

Comet Arrives Over Western New York: As conditions clear and the sun sets on Tuesday, a comet may appear in the western skies amid the twilight glow. By Wednesday or Thursday at the latest, the entire region should get a glimpse of this celestial wonder that is truly a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. The comet should be visible in New York skies throughout the next few weeks, but will be at its brightest this week.

EarthSky, the fabulous science blog, has a definitive “what to expect when you’re expecting a comet” guide at Comet PanSTARRS, which is just arriving in the inner solar system after a 100,000,000-year journey.

Weather Journal’s Greater New York forecast roundup for Tuesday:

WSJ Headquarters in Manhattan:

Actual High: 58; High feels like: 60

Actual Low: 40; Low feels like: 37

Weather: Rainy spring preview

Brooklyn: 59/40

Queens: 57/40

Bronx: 57/40

Staten Island: 55/38

Poughkeepsie, N.Y.: 54/32

Trenton, N.J.: 57/38

Islip, Long Island: 53/38

New Haven, Conn.: 50/36

Meteorologist Eric Holthaus contributes daily weather reports and analysis on Metropolis. For the latest on conditions in New York and elsewhere, follow his updates (@EricHolthaus) on Twitter.